Eternity
by Sandiya
Summary: A Daiora, all for lyra! ^.^ Up in the snowy mountains, anything can happen. Please read/review! =)


A Daiora, all for Lyra-chan, for her wonderful Takari! ^-^  
  
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Eternity  
  
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Motomiya Daisuke appeared to be unaware of the wintry weather, ardently standing on the ragged cliff's edge, overlooking the stunning, breath-taking, and natural surroundings far and below. His sharp chocolate eyes did not miss a single point from sky to land. A swift snow owl flew gracefully over his head, swooping toward suddenly spotted prey. Bits of rock crumbled under his grinding feet. The glistening snow-capped mountains were towering and abominable from this point, as well as the evergreens strewn around the area. Children giggled more than a thousand feet below, yet their chuckles were solely carried along with the wind, falling deaf on his ears.  
  
He did not even attempt to smile. What was the point?   
  
Spotting him from afar, the girl's soft facial features now revealed anxiety. She shoved her long, rigid, reddening fingers into her pockets. Pleading leave from the others in her group, she started bounding up the trail, in hopes of having some time alone with her fiancée.   
  
The wedding was scheduled to happen in two weeks, and they'd traveled to the ski resort to have some adventure and excitement before the merry event. Also, and mainly, to be solely by themselves for awhile. Kind of like a pre-wedding honeymoon. Unfortunately, Mimi, Jyou, Koushirou, Yamato, Kari, and Takeru had all decided to follow them there. If three was a crowd, what was eight?   
  
At least she had a lot of people to discuss the planning of the wedding with.  
  
Sora sighed. That is, if there still was a wedding.  
  
Lately it had seemed as if Dai was more distant and far away than usual, like Matt used to have been when they were much younger. She had started noticing it when they hugged. She always gave the hug, and he was always the first to pull away. This Daisuke wasn't at all the carefree, witty guy she used to know anymore.  
  
Sora would've liked to say that Daisuke fell for her first, but in truth it was she that liked him the moment she met him. He had helped take away the pain she felt when Tai Kamiya, her first love, had left Odaiba for a bright future. Tai was touring the world now with his soccer team now, one of the most famous players in the league. When he left, she felt that he had carried away a giant piece of her life with him, but she knew that it was his dream to lead Japan's soccer team to victory.   
  
It was about that time that Daisuke had ventured to ask what she thought of him. His golden trademark smirk had disappeared from his face when he had asked her the solemn question that day. Step by step, she had told him that she loved him, and Dai had accepted it willingly. It had taken him a long time, however, to be completely able to correspond; he kept holding back for some reason, but finally he admitted he loved her too. Yet now he was retreating into his old self once again, and it had been ages since he had told her that she was the only one.   
  
"All my life is him now," she said to herself, "but sometimes even I wonder if he still feels the same for me."  
  
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He could almost be called a statue for all that he moved.   
  
If he concentrated on anything else, the infernal swelling of his throat would stop, and he would no longer have the compelling urge to spill tears. Weakling tears that showed the intense regret and pain of unrequited love he felt right then would not appear if he could help it.  
  
How different he was from before, during the adventures in the Digiworld. Before he would've been delighted that anyone had told him that they loved him, especially Sora. How much he admired the intelligent, reliable, and astonishingly beautiful girl was unsure to even him.   
  
So unsure...  
  
"If only I had never thought of this in the first place," he muttered to himself.  
  
He breathed in and out a couple times, trying to clear his thoughts.   
  
'Oh, Sora,' he thought. 'Why must you do this to me?'  
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-  
  
"Tell me, Dai. Whisper the word. Just say it and I'll go back to the others...just take me into your arms and whisper, "Aishiteru." Her dark crimson eyes had a certain wide hollowness that begged for the comfort that always came with the Japanese way to say I love you.   
  
He kept staring straight ahead.  
  
"Dai...tell me you love me and make it all right again."  
  
It was then Daisuke whirled around to face her, his fists clenched in restrained anger. Perhaps she should've known not to go for the last straw. When she drew enough courage to look into his gaze, she saw his usually warm eyes blazing. "Sora, how can my words make everything all right? How can I say I love you when all you see in me is TAI?"  
  
Sora was jolted by his statement and stepped back, her hope crumbling. "Where'd you get that idea, Dai-kun? Who'd make up something like that?"  
  
He laughed dryly, his voice hoarse from the frigid, bitter cold beating against his larynx. "I see it in your eyes. I am and always will be second best to Tai, won't I?"  
  
She shook her head fiercely, appalled at what he was saying. She had to get it through his stubborn head that it wasn't true, or else she'd lose him forever. The thought was too unbearable to live with. Daisuke had been her pillar of hope when she had rows with the others, her sanctuary from the storm when the rows turned into fiery wars.  
  
"I wouldn't be marrying you in a week if I still loved Tai, Daisuke!!! I love you for who you are...for who you are inside."  
  
He smiled ironically, dismissing her words with a shake of his head, and turned his back to her again. He faced the wind whipping about his hair again. "You can still get out of it, Sora. You don't have to marry me, and you can run to Tai now if you wish. He's free now, you know. I hear he broke up with the girl of the hour about two minutes ago."   
  
"How can I tell you that Tai doesn't mean that to me anymore? I loved him once...but not anymore, Daisuke! I swear, Dai..."   
  
Silence. Deafening silence.  
  
Sora tasted blood on her tongue, scarlet red blood dripping from her lips as a result of her teeth simply ripping through the thin skin. Thinking more clearly, she reasoned that weeping would only worsen things, but the pressuring tears that welled up in her eyes were practically impossible to evade. After awhile, she decided that since he wouldn't listen to anything of her protests, she had to take a different approach.  
  
"Fine, Dai. Whatever." She managed to say. "Do you want to cancel the wedding?"  
  
"It's only as you wish, Sora Takenouchi." His voice did not waver in the slightest; instead, it hid any and all feeling.  
  
Her face went blank. It was as if he wanted it that way. "Alright. So I guess this is where we part."  
  
"I guess it is."  
  
"Good-bye then. Good-bye, Motomiya Daisuke, and I hope you someday regain happiness, for I most certainly will."  
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With those defiant words, everything seemed to indicate that Sora just might get through the dilemma.  
  
Not so.  
  
Sora spent that afternoon sobbing, contemplating on how boys everywhere could be so ignorant, sobbing some more, eating enough to survive, sobbing again, reading a dreary novel, and then wallowing in misery for the rest of the day.   
  
She also permitted herself to confide in Mimi and Kari about her developed crisis. Also, she told all to the understanding Jyou, since he was the boy she felt closest to after Dai and Tai.   
  
Tai Kamiya. All his fault. In some indirect way, he was all to blame.   
  
But even that she had to shoot down. Tai had been her best friend, not her enemy.  
  
Such confusion.  
  
Sora couldn't stay inside the house; she felt certain that Dai's silent treatment would be worse than anything. Especially after all that had happened...how could it be different? She slipped out the back way, carrying her kawaii stuffed bear that Dai had give her one Christmas. She'd named it Eternity, secretly referring to how long her love for Dai would last.  
  
The walk out the kitchen was the hardest part. Too much lugging. She almost turned back, but she was too far to do so. Opening the back door, Sora walked out onto the backyard.  
  
Trudging along, her feet dragging themselves, she laid her pillow and blanket on the moist ground. It was bitterly cold, but she couldn't feel the temperature anyhow. She suddenly realized she had left her bear behind, but her bones were too tired to even think of moving back inside to retrieve it. He'd probably have a better time inside than out anyway. Lying on the ground, she yawned, closed her weary eyes, and proceeded to stay conscious for a long time to come.  
  
Her soul felt empty, as if a breeze had swept it away without another thought.  
  
What a night.  
  
Twisting and turning, listening to Daisuke's words over and over again...  
  
What a night.  
  
She chewed on her blanket absent-mindedly, wondering why loving someone was so hard...  
  
What a night.  
  
-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-  
  
~.~1 hour later~.~  
  
Daisuke unlocked the door to the cabin, hung up his coat, closed it tight, and retrieved a box from the highest cabinet to the right in the living room.   
  
He knelt by the fireplace, the light colored and velvet-covered package on his lap. He opened the old silver latch to reveal a pair of goggles.  
  
The one gift he had ever received from Tai. But they were enough.  
  
More than enough.  
  
"Amazing," Daisuke said, raw jealousy and ascending rage basically flaring out of his fingertips. "Tai gives me something to treasure, one of the things he cherished the most. But then he also takes away the girl I want to love the most. He takes away Sora... my Sora."  
  
Tears were beyond him now...nothing could repair the misery.  
  
He heaved a regretful sigh, letting the once prized goggles drop to the floor. They landed upside down, and in their glass reflected the fire.   
  
The fire crackled, whishing and rising around, the tint changing from golden yellow to bright autumn orange to yellow again. It twirled and weaved, spread united...like the love you gave someone. The fire could only grow, unless you got rid of oxygen and replaced it with carbon dioxide; or in the case of love, if you threw kindness and care into the wind and replaced it with constant pushing away.  
  
The burning cannot help but go out. Sometimes it goes out forever.  
  
A soft voice entered the room, filling up the air with its urgency. "Tai didn't take away Sora. If anything, you're letting her drift, Daisuke. Go after her. Right now. What you say today decides the future. Lose your love, lose all feeling, lose everything your life ever meant."  
  
Daisuke stood up, looking around for the owner of the voice.   
  
"Must've been the wind" He said while he tried to shrug it off. There was no wind.   
  
But there was that voice ...yes, the voice of truth.  
  
Truth. The moment he had first looked into Sora's eyes, there appeared all the truth, hope, and goodness in the world. It all fit, like the matching pieces in a puzzle.   
  
But there was always Tai standing between them, even if he was absent from actual presence. She claimed that all her love was transferred to him, but he was still uncertain. Tai Kamiya had obviously taken many hearts; why not hers as well?  
  
He headed for her bedroom, wanting to wish her goodnight at the very least. Maybe she'd condemn him to leave her alone forever, maybe she'd eat him alive after what he'd done, or maybe he'd find out that she'd broken down her unwillingness and run off to the big shot soccer player.   
  
He just had to see her. Just one last time.  
  
There was nothing else to do...  
  
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"And now for the happy ending!" giggled Kari. She gazed at the troubled Daisuke from her place at the window and jumped with glee when he walked in the direction of Sora's room, probably for the sappy reconciliation scene. How she wished she could see it; the work   
  
"I always knew you were smart, Kari...you even picked the right time to come," whispered Takeru, referring to the deadened wind.   
  
Who didn't love it when they were praised? Feigning a snobby accent, she airily replied, "I'm more than smart. I'm a thousand times more intelligent than smart, a total genius. How dare you insult me, T.K?"   
  
Takeru's eyebrows shot up, his eyes widened. "Didn't mean to, Kari-chan..."  
  
"It's okay, I didn't mean it either." She smiled and bent over to kiss him on the cheek.  
  
'If only Dai and Sora were as contented as me and T.K. are...'  
  
If only.  
  
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The yellow light in the hallway wasn't at all bright, since it was an old bulb and was losing power, but there was enough fuel for a couple more minutes. He made a note to himself to fix it the next morning.  
  
Daisuke collected his thoughts, and hoped that she was fast asleep. Anxiety rushed through his blood; if she wasn't, what would he do?  
  
He slowly cracked the ancient door open, and peeked inside.  
  
Sora...  
  
Had vanished.  
  
And with her everything he had to live for.  
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He shoved the door open further and searched the room. Her things was still there, so it didn't look like she'd just packed off and left. Still, there was no telling with the stubborn though level-headed Sora Takenouchi.  
  
He tore through the entire cabin, looking for any sign that she was still there. That she hadn't left; that for one time in his life, he hadn't been left behind.   
  
He ran into the kitchen, his heart pushing up through his throat.   
  
On the floor, by the door, he saw her ancient teddy bear. Ever since he had given the adorable bear to Sora, she had treasured it dearly. He still looked like he came just out of the box even if he was three years old. Eternity, he thought she called him.   
  
'If Eternity's here, she's not far behind...' he breathed a sigh of relief.  
  
It did not last long. Looking out the window... he saw a stiff figure lying on the ground.  
  
Sora.  
  
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Grabbing spare blankets out of an open drawer, he wrapped her up tightly in the thick wool cloth. Carrying her over to the sofa, he hugged her tightly.   
  
"That was so stupid, Sora! WHY were you out for so long?" He screamed in her ear, running his fingers through her damp, stringy hair. He kissed her cheeks, nose, and forehead, as if he was making sure that she was really there.   
  
Sora's lips were icy and frozen, so her smile appeared the same. It didn't help that she held almost no feeling in her fingers. But there was one good thing in all this. For once in what seemed like ages, she had all his attention. With great difficulty, she cleared her throat to speak.   
  
"I know all my time was once spent pining away for Tai Kamiya. It hurt when he left, Dai, please understand. But then those days eventually disappeared, replaced by the moments we spent laughing and dancing together, Dai. I don't compare you to Tai, you both are two different people. I..." she coughed, her voice turning raspy with effort. "I do love you."   
  
He hushed her by conveying a pure look of desperate love. "I know that now, Sora. Believe me, I know. I'm sorry it took me so long to figure it out, but, well, just rest now, sweetheart. I'll stay right here, by your side. You'll make it through this Sora, I promise, we'll both make it through this..."   
  
Soothing words drove her to uncertain sleep. A sleep she might not wake from.  
  
They'd been through worse. A whole lot worse.  
  
Of course, he couldn't recall the times when it had been worse, but they must've been at one point. Daisuke bowed his head in silent prayer, not knowing what else to do. The thought of being ripped away from his love now was too tragic to think about; too cruel to happen.   
  
Wasn't it?  
  
The fire crackled, more life in the flames than ever before. More telepathic love passed through Sora and Dai that day than ever before.  
  
The dawn was to come.   
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The teddy bear named Eternity stared at the radiant two, his coal black eyes brightening. Confident that they were both asleep, he stood on his light and furry feet, moving closer without fear.  
  
His nose wrinkled, the smoke of the fire still looming in the air. Pawing it away, he scrambled up onto the sofa with slight difficulty, then grinned at the adorable sight before him. It was enough to send any ancient teddy bear's heart to blissful paradise; the elation of his owners always ranked number one to him.  
  
Eternity's foremost owner, the girl called Sora, lay across the sofa. Her head was supported by the other's arm, the smile on her face peaceful. He knew she was still breathing, even if only by bear sense. The dear girl was alive, and he was grateful that the spirit in charge of human heaven granted her the gift of life.  
  
The bear knew she deserved it.  
  
Her love, the one who had first wrapped him in that box, still looked worried and haggard. But of course, the look would eventually pass, and be replaced with joy and rapture.  
  
At the toy store where he was first bought, the Nutcracker doll on the next shelve had introduced him to books. When the store had closed down, he had sneaked away to the fairy tale section and read Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. He chanced to finish the latter just when the store opened again.  
  
Happily ever after would happen. If it did in the best fairy tales, why wouldn't it do so to two normal people?  
  
A wave of teddy bear confidence passed through his heart.  
  
He knew it would last.  
  
It would last for eternity.  
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How's that, Lyra-chan? ^^ And what do ya think, everyone else? Every comment welcome, b-cause I laugh, cry, and hug all of 'em! ^.^ I'll probably get flamed because I like Daisuke, but that's okay, cause I'm hyper. Maybe because this is the longest single Digimon fic I've ever written. Sayonara! =)  
  
~Sandiya~  
  
P.S. I think I can call this my most heartfelt accomplishment yet ^.^ Maybe because I love teddy bears so much ^.~ Ja ne!  



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